Three Twin Swords
by ninjapanda16
Summary: Two is better then one, times that by three and you get six. Twin swords are nothing but a legend, but that is proven wrong by three friends that Fate has connected, one Flower God, Moon Slayer and True Self. Six blades, Three people, Two to each. What could go wrong? Fem!Ichigo.


Three Twin Swords

Warning: Female Ichigo, AU

Declaimer: I don't own Bleach; I would never be able to come up with something like it anyway.

Please don't use anything from this fic, as you will find half the ideas on here are not mine but ZangetsuOldMan.

This story is written with the help from ZangetsuOldMan. A BIG thank you for all the help and ideas to come!

It will also be the Shunsui x Fem Ichigo many people wanted.

Chapter 1: A Stranger Under the Sakura Tree.

* * *

The twin swords were nothing but a legend. Not one Shinigami had ever had one, only some knew of them. Many thought that all Shinigami would only ever have one sword for their Zanpakuto. They would have been right, if it wasn't for three friends who kicked dust at that legion.

They are the only Shinigami to wield two Zanpakuto. They are different yet they are the same. All three love to play games, yet they all find a different way to win the games they play.

"Ichigo!" The voice filled the room said person was in. A girl with bright orange hair looked up from the scroll she was reading and towards the door.

She knew that voice, very well. And the owner of the voice she didn't want to see, not right now. She glanced at the scroll she was previously reading. He was most likely looking for it. The man's footsteps grew louder. The orange haired girl didn't have time to react as the door to her room slid open.

"Ichigo!" A man with the top of his head bald with black hair on the sides, a tuft on at the back of his head in a topknot, brown eyes under thick, black eyebrows and a long, black moustache. On the bald part of his head and cross shaped scar was there, both line ended or began at his eyebrows. He wore a Shihakusho.

The girl –Ichigo- fumbled with the scroll and looked over her shoulder, blowing her orange bangs out of her eye. "Ah, yes?"

The man's eyes narrowed at her as he walked into the room. Ichigo turned to look at him careful not to let the scroll be seen as she hid it behind her back. There was a pause, when the older man held out his hand. Ichigo let out a sigh and handed the scroll over; there was no point in trying to act as if she didn't have it, and it wasn't the first time he had found her with his scrolls.

"Hado no# 32 Okasen, isn't this a little too far from the ones you are learning?" he mumbled, but Ichigo heard none the less.

"I couldn't find Fushibi and that was the first one I grabbed." She folded her arms in front of her and walked over to her bed and sat on it.

"But that doesn't explain why you went into my room, again!" His voice got louder as he said this.

"You know the reason why! There is nothing to do! Yachiru is off somewhere, probably killing something! I need something to do to pass time, Tou-chan!" Ichigo yelled back.

Ichigo has bright orange hair that is held up in a high ponytail that is messy and long, reaching the end of her shoulder blades like this, her bangs stop just above her soft, brown doe eyes that are messy but also spiky, wearing a black kimono that the ends of the sleeves and the bottom of the kimono white, on the white, black sakura petals fell, the obi, a matching white.

She is Ichigo Kurosaki Yamamoto, and adoptive daughter of the man standing in front of her, Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto.

"Find something to do then." Yamamoto said trying to calm himself down so he wouldn't yell at the child while tucking the scroll in his sleeve. Ichigo looked around the room to find something to entertain herself with, she was about to say there was nothing when she caught sight of something hanging on her wall above her doorway.

"Train me to use that?" she asked, pointing to a sword that was above the doorway. The hilt is deep red; the guard is a light brown circle, of which half is solid while the other half is hollow. "Please?" she added when he looked at the sword.

He shook his head, "No."

"Why not? I had it with me when you found me, so why can't I learn to use it?" She asked trying to change his mind about the sword. It was true, he had found her on the outskirts of district 79 south Rukongai when he was looking for the eleventh squad Captain, Yachiru Unohana. He had found her with said sword.

"No is no, Ichigo." He said as he walked over to the door and then disappeared.

Ichigo let out a sigh; she then listened for the fading footsteps of her adopted father. Once she couldn't hear them anymore she pulled out a scroll from the sleeve of her kimono and smirked at it.

"Okay, Bakudo no# 9 Horin, here I come"

* * *

Yamamoto walked down the halls of the clan house, towards his room to return the scroll back to the rightful place. When he entered the room the first thing he noticed was the mess it was. Scrolls for different Kido arts lay on the floor, papers scattered over his bed and desk.

"Ichigo!"

Hearing her name bounce around the walls of the building Ichigo winced. "Time to go before Tou-chan comes back."

Quickly rolling up the Bakudo scroll she tucked it into her sleeve and walked to the door. Opening it slowly she sticks her head out and looks both ways. Seeing that no one was coming she proceeded to walk out slowly and quietly.

After walking around the corner she started to walk faster until she was off of the clan's grounds. Walking around to the back of the clans grounds Ichigo came across a dusty road with mamiji trees lining the sides of the narrow pathway.

Walking down the narrow pathway, she soon comes across a wall that's lined with ivy. Using the ivy branches Ichigo climbs over the wall and drops down on soft, green grass. Dusting off her kimono the orange haired child looked up to see a single sakura tree on a small hill.

This place was her favourite place to go to. She had come across it when trying to catch her hair ribbon when it got caught in the wind a few weeks after she was adopted by Yamamoto. Ever since then she would come here to read a book or too hid from Yamamoto when he wasn't in a good mood or she had 'borrowed' a Kido scroll.

Walking over to the tree, she sat down. Ichigo was about to pull out the Bakudo scroll when a pink cherry blossom flower fell into her lap. She was about to pick it up when she heard a tree branch breaking followed by someone's scream and that said person hitting the ground.

She turned to look around the tree trunk, slowly getting up as she did so. There was a boy, with dark brown hair wearing a simple blue yukata. He slowly got up; every movement he made sent jolts of pain over his body.

"Who're you?" Ichigo asked from behind the tree still.

The boys head snapped to look at her, grey eyes widening in surprise. The first thing to catch his attention was her hair; it was orange like really orange. "What?" came his oh so smart reply.

Ichigo's eye twitched, "I asked 'Who're you?'"

"Uh, Shunsui, Shunsui Kyouraku. And you are?" the boy now known as Shunsui got up as he said this, not paying attention to Ichigo, he missed the slight widening of her eyes.

She hesitated, unsure whether to trust him or not, "Ichigo Kurosaki." There was a pause as Shunsui dusted off his yukata, "Why are you here?" Ichigo added once he looked back up.

"Ichigo, huh? Means strawberry right?" He was cut off by Ichigo.

"No it doesn't." Her voice flat and her face blank of any emotion.

"Huh?" He looked at her confused.

"My name. It means 'Number One Guardian' not strawberry." She waited a moment, "Why are you here?"

"Ah, I just stumbled onto the place, I guess." Shunsui shrugged his shoulders, "And I can ask you the same thing." Silence came after. "Aren't you going to tell me?"

"You said you can ask, but you never said anything." Ichigo replied as she went back to sitting down next to the tree. Shunsui looked as though he had been hit over the head. The orange haired girl rolled her eyes before speaking. "I come here to read."

"Read what?" he walked over to the tree and sat down on the side next to Ichigo.

"Nothing that concerns you, Kyouraku." She moved so that she was sitting on the other side of the tree from Shunsui, and remembering some of her manners by using his last name instead of his first to address him.

"Oh come on, why not? Unless you don't have anything or maybe it's something you're not meant to have?" Shunsui looked around the tree.

_'I knew I should have grabbed a book on the way out. I normally do, so why didn't I do so this time?'_ Ichigo questioned herself. Letting out a sigh she reached into her sleeve and pulled out some of the scroll, only to stop and ask herself, why she was showing some complete stranger the Bakudo scroll?

Giving up with arguing with herself, she pulled the scroll out, put it on the grass and pushed it towards the boy.

Shunsui slowly picked up the scroll and opened it. The first words caught his attention. "Bakudo no# 9 Horin?" he looked over to Ichigo, "You can do this?"

Ichigo shook her head, "No."

"Then why do you have it then?" Shunsui quickly cut in.

"If you let me finish you would have known." Ichigo looked up at the Cherry blossoms, "I get so bored that it's not funny, so I borrow Tou-chan's notes from his room, he didn't know at first but soon caught on. I can only perform Bakudo up to # 9, Geki. I only started to read the scroll before I got here, but I think Tou-chan knows something's up so I came here as soon as I could." She didn't know why she was telling him this; it just spilled out of her mouth. Was it the fact that she didn't talk to many people, and that she wanted to talk to someone other than Yamamoto, Yachiru, Sasakibe, Tenjiro, and the others?

"Wait, there are two Bakudo # 9?!" Shunsui practically yelled causing Ichigo to jump both out of her thoughts and literally jumping.

"I said the same thing when I spotted the scroll, funny that." Ichigo started to play with the fallen sakura petals, picking them up and then letting the fly off into the wind. Shunsui watched for a moment but soon snapped himself out of it and started reading the scroll, giving into temptation in knowing what the spell could do.

Ichigo followed the path of a petal flying in the wind but stops when she sees Shunsui reading the scroll while moving his hand in some random motions. "What are you doing?"

"Shh" Shunsui hushed her. Ichigo just rolled her eyes and started watching the sakura petals fall again.

After a few, long and quiet minutes, Shunsui jumped up to his feet, a smile on his face, he held out a hand to Ichigo, who hesitated which didn't go unnoticed by Shunsui, receiving a questioning look from Shunsui. Ichigo slowly grabbed hold of his hand, and his smile returned as he pulled her up to her feet.

He lead her a few steps away from the Sakura tree, "Stay there." He handed her the scroll and moved some space away from her. Ichigo, wanting to know what he is up to stayed. She watched as he held out his hand and pointed at her, unable to hear what he was saying she watched.

"Disintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini! Look upon yourself with horror and tear out your own throat!" Shunsui mutter as not to alert Ichigo with what he is doing. "Bakudo no# 9, Horin!" He then yelled out.

Ichigo's eyes widened in surprise as a blast of orange and yellow made its way towards her. Shocked at the sight, she realized too late as the rope wrapped around her. After looking at the Bakudo she then looked back up to Shunsui, fear filling her eyes as images flashed through her mind.

"Okay, let me go now." She said with a small smile, trying to hold down her fear to not let it show, but that soon faded as her eye twitched when she saw Shunsui shake his head. "What? Why not?!"

"You have to do something for me" Shunsui tugged on the Bakudo making Ichigo take a step to keep her balance.

"What?" She asked unsure of what he will ask or do to her if she refused to do so.

A light blush covered his cheeks and he looked away from her, Ichigo would have thought it was cute if it hadn't been the request he asked her. "Show me your panties?" It was a question but still...

The world froze for Ichigo, horror and shock painting her face. "What?" she asked weakly, another image painted her mind.

"Show me your panties?" he said it with more confidence but still left it as a question.

The air suddenly got thicker, the binding around Ichigo snapped. Shunsui eyes grew wide as he watched the binding snap and the orange haired girl started to glow a faint blue. Her normally brown eyes gained a blue tint.

The light started to form at her hands but the light soon disappeared as a tall female with long black hair, wearing a black Shihakusho and a white Haori over the top, and a sword in hand appeared in between them.

"Ya-Yachiru." Sweat slid down Ichigo's forehead, her eyes widening.

"Yamamoto is looking for you, Ichigo." Unohana walked pass Ichigo, "Let's go." Her free hand grabbed Ichigo by the shoulder and they were gone the next second.

* * *

Yamamoto walked back down the pathway he had just taken to his room, in order to go back to Ichigo's room. Once he had stopped he practically ripped off the door and walked inside. The first places he looked at were Ichigo's bed and desk. When he didn't see the familiar head of orange hair anywhere, he looked in her wardrobe; again, Ichigo wasn't in there.

Even though he was angry, he couldn't help but smile at the thought of what Ichigo did. She had distracted him with the higher Kido spell in order to keep something she didn't want him to see. He's proud to know that, Ichigo is able to come up with something such as that. He didn't know if she had made it up on the spot or had planned it out. That didn't matter, what mattered was that, one, he believed that Ichigo was up to such a high spell –he should have known better, the girl liked to learn the Kido's in order not mixed up- and two, Ichigo was missing.

"Sasakibe!" Yamamoto turned to look at the doorway, a few seconds later and a male with short blue, whitish hair, and pale gold eyes appeared. He wore a black shihakusho with an added white robe over his shoulders tide in front. Appeared in a kneeling stance in front of the doorway.

"Yes, Head Captain Yamamoto?"

"Have you seen Ichigo lately?"

Sasakibe raised a short eyebrow at the question, "Your adoptive daughter, sir?" With a nod from Yamamoto, Sasakibe continued with a shake of his head. "No, I haven't sir. If I may sir, can I ask why you are looking for Ichigo-sama?"

Yamamoto paused, "Ichigo was looking through my Kido scrolls again and when I found her she gave me a midlevel Bakudo spell, but I think she has something else but I don't know what."

"Ichigo-sama has said before that she gets bored easily, and with nothing to do she must have thought of something to do, and by what you are saying she has taken an interest in Kido."

"And she can't think of anything that doesn't involve her entering my room?" Yamamoto stood in the middle of the child's room looking at Sasakibe with a raised eyebrow.

"You haven't given her much of a choice. If I may say, I think it might be best if you let Ichigo-sama out on the training grounds and see what she can do. She has taken interest in learning how to wield the sword that was found with her, has she not? She can also perform some Kido without the help of someone to show her." Sasakibe looked up at Yamamoto.

"So you think it will be best if I train her?" Yamamoto asked, and then gave a sigh at the sight of Sasakibe nodding. "It might do her some good as well." Yamamoto spoke to himself more than Sasakibe.

Sasakibe moved out of the way to let Yamamoto walk past, after receiving a hand signal he followed the older man to the training grounds on the Yamamoto clan grounds.

"Sasakibe, find Captain Unohana and send her to find Ichigo and tell them to come back here." Yamamoto walked onto the dusty surface of the training grounds.

"Yes sir." Sasakibe gave a nod and then disappeared.

_'Chojiro might be right, Ichigo is able to use Kido and has been getting more restless, maybe teaching her something will do her some good. The only thing that's a problem is the sword, where did she get it? And is it a Zanpakuto?'_ Many thoughts ran through Yamamoto's head, but one stood out.

_'Would it be best to train Ichigo with Shunsui? The two look around the same age and it might be good for Ichigo to get to know someone other than Unohana, Tenjiro, the others, and Sasakibe, but then again, this is Shunsui I'm talking about.' _Yamamoto shook his head to rid the thoughts.

_'That doesn't matter right now; I need to work out what will be best to teach her first. Zanjutsu can come in last, she's alright in Kido, so there's no need to do that first. Then that leaves Hoho and Hakuda. To learn Hakuda one has to learn the art of Hoho. So Hoho it is then.'_

Yamamoto's thoughts were cut off by the sight of a black and red butterfly that came to hover by him, a message relaying through it. It was the voice of Sasakibe that came from the Hell Butterfly,

"You should know that Ichigo is back to where she was the last time you sent Captain Unohana to get her for you, but Ichigo isn't alone, your student of yours is also with her, Head Captain." there was a pause before Sasakibe had started to talk again, and that let him think, if Ichigo did talk to someone her age it might do her some good, he was going to say that to tell Unohana not to worry about finding the girl when Sasakibe spoke again, "And, sir, I think Captain Unohana has found out, she had just passed and was moving fast."

Now that wouldn't help, if Unohana gets there then Ichigo won't talk to Shunsui, and that won't help the girl, narrowing his eyes Yamamoto Shunpoed off towards Ichigo's Spirit Energy.

* * *

A woman with long, black hair, the tips dyed of crimson. She wore a black Shihakusho, and her gray eyes glanced at the pile of mangled corpses. She is Yachiru Unohana, but is mainly referred to as Kenpachi by many people of Soul Society.

It was just like any other day, people who thought they stood a chance at defeating her, would fight her for her title, Kenpachi, which means of two things one, the strongest Captain, and two, the one who lives for battle.

At first she didn't mind it, she got what she wanted and that was to fight, but that she soon lost interest when she could end a fight with one strike, she needed someone to be able to put up a good fight. A fight that would challenge her, a fight that would last longer but where could she find such a person to hold up such a fight? She had started searching for something to defeat this boredom and so started to learn the art of healing Kido to prolong her fights, even if the art of Kido went against the way of Squad Eleven, what was more important was to be able to fight longer even by healing her foes.

Sasakibe appeared a few meters ahead of her, not even blinking at the sight of the female covered in crimson, or the blood that splattered the landscape. Unohana returned to reality, instead of looking back and questioning herself.

"Ichigo-sama has gone missing from the clan, Head-Captain Yamamoto wants you to find her and report back to him." Sasakibe waited for Unohana to nod and then left.

Unohana let out a very rare sigh; really Ichigo was the only one who could get the Head-Captain so worried to get her, the Kenpachi, to track down his daughter. Then again, she was the closest one to the child, and knew her Spirit Energy well enough to be able to sense it easily. Closing her eyes, Unohana concentrated on the one energy that she knew to be Ichigo's.

Unohana let out a faint smile as she noticed that Ichigo was in the same place as every other time she disappears from the clan's grounds. That smile soon faded away as she noticed another spiritual energy close by that of Ichigo. She didn't know anyone with such a signature; it was close to that of Ichigo's yet very different at the same time. Maybe it was the amount the person had that was close to Ichigo's or the fact that the person was close by to Ichigo that made it close to that of the child. Then there's also that, Ichigo is a child, could the person near her be one too?

Unohana shook her head_. 'Impossible, no child could have so much Spirit Energy. Only Ichigo, but the way she was forced to live it's no surprise.'_

Ichigo's past was that of a horrible one, one that no child should have been through. She was forced to get stronger just too live, forced to face her many fears. She may have overcome them but because of that, she's left with fears that run deeper than ever. Along with the fact that the people she loved were half the reason the child was forced to grow up like this, it didn't help.

Then again the past is just that, the past. Ichigo had gotten by some of her fears with the help of Yamamoto, Sasakibe, Kirinji, the others and herself, Yachiru Unohana. She had grown even with such things that have happen to her. She did something that Unohana doubt that anyone else could do, Ichigo, the orange haired, fun loving child, moved on. And that made Unohana, the Kenpachi, proud.

Unohana's thoughts were cut off by a panic feeling in Ichigo's Spirit Energy, not only that, but the one that was close to the child grew in mischief or something similar to that of mischief. With recent thoughts on Ichigo's past, Unohana reacted to the first thing that came to mind, and that wasn't a good thing. Out of everyone that Ichigo knew, Unohana was the one she trusted the most, and had told the older female everything that had happened, unlike Yamamoto, Sasakibe, and the most of the others who only know some of her past.

Using Shunpo as fast as she could, somehow passing Sasakibe on the way. She was close, so close, in fact she would have been there had it not been the hand that had grabbed her arm. Turning as fast as she could, Unohana readied her sword to behead whoever stopped her from getting to Ichigo. She would have beheaded the person if she hadn't caught sight of the man, the sword stopped in its swing and Unohana let the blade point to the ground instead of the man in front of her. It was the Head Captain, who had stopped her, but this raised a question, why was he stopping her from getting to Ichigo?

As if reading her mind Yamamoto spoke. "Sasakibe said that you were on your way here. He also said that Shunsui is with Ichigo, and if Ichigo is around people her own age then it might do her some good, but with you coming here it might stop her from talking to him."

"The reason why I got here so fast is because Ichigo started to panic, and this 'Shunsui' might be the reason why she is panicking." Yamamoto let go of Unohana's arm, as she spoke.

"We watch them, and if anything happens you can take Ichigo to the clan's training grounds." Not being able to argue with Yamamoto, Unohana gave a nod, and walked to the gate that lead into the abandon yard that Ichigo was in, but didn't enter. She watched, the first thing she noticed was that the person who Yamamoto must have been talking about was a child and a boy no less.

_'A child? He almost has as much Spiritual Energy as Ichigo, did something happen to him? Or do his parents have high Spiritual Energy themselves?'_

Her thoughts were cut off when Shunsui got up and pulled Ichigo up to her feet, Unohana didn't miss the hesitation Ichigo showed, she glanced towards Yamamoto, who was also watching the exchange from the other side of the broken gate.

By the time she looked back, Ichigo was standing up and away from the tree and Shunsui was standing some space away. They watched as he chanted something, unable to hear what he was saying the two Captains continued to watch.

"Bakudo no# 9, Horin!" Both Unohana and Yamamoto watched as an orange and yellow rope wrapped around Ichigo. She reacted, suddenly in front of Yamamoto, her Zanpakuto pointing at the wall next to his head. A blood crawling smile made its way onto her face.

"Next time you might lose an arm." She threatened, the sound of the Bakudo breaking and the sudden rise in Ichigo's Spiritual Energy gained their attention and they watched as Ichigo started to grow blue.

Unohana removed her sword from the wall and used Shunpo to appear in between the two children, facing towards Ichigo.

"Ya-Yachiru," Unohana noted the sweat that slid down the orange haired child, and walked past the child, stopping just beside her.

"Yamamoto is looking for you, Ichigo." Well it was partly true; he had wanted her to find the child. Unohana placed a hand on Ichigo's shoulder, "Let's go." Again, Unohana used Shunpo and this time landing in the Yamamoto clan's training grounds and sheathed her sword.

"Nee-chan?" Ichigo's small voice echoed off the walls of the training grounds. Unohana looked down at the child; who was on her knees on the dusty floor. "W-where were you, N-nee-chan?" Ichigo looked up, her eyes watery but no tears fell. "W-why didn't you c-come sooner?"

Unohana's look soften at the sight, her eye's becoming a soft purple, as she lowered to the child's height. "I'm here now, Ichigo." She placed a hand on the girls head in hopes to comfort her. A snob came from Ichigo, but she didn't let anything fall from her eyes. "I'm here." Unohana repeated, this time pulling the girl into a hug.

* * *

If there was one thing Shunsui would do no matter what, that would be avoiding any and all work, and that was just what he was doing right now as he snuck down the halls of his new home. Well it's his home until the problem between him and his parents is resolved. This place had only just became his home a couple of days ago, but even then he already knew the best ways to get out of the building.

"Ichigo!" Shunsui jumped at the sound of his teacher's voice. 'Who's this Ichigo? Must be someone else who Teach has taken under his wing. But, if that's so then why haven't I met him yet?' Shunsui cut his thoughts off as he moved back from the end of the porch, just in time too, as he watched his teacher –the famous Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto- march into the building. He felt sorry for whoever Yamamoto was looking for, after all, he is most likely the cause of Yamamoto's anger from not showing up to the supposed training session that he was meant to be at now.

Well as long as it wasn't him, he was fine with it. Once he heard a door slide open Shunsui looked around the corner to make sure no one was there. Ever so carefully he walked away from the main building on the clan's grounds, and then soon out of the grounds. Gliding his hand over the stone wall, Shunsui followed it around the grounds, he would have walked off and looked around this part of the Seireitei but, only being new to these parts he didn't want to get lost, otherwise there was no point in sneaking out of the clan in the first place.

Following the wall around to the back of the clan, Shunsui noticed an old pathway that was lined with trees. Looking down the path, then back at the wall and to the path again, a smile edged onto his face and his hand left the wall. As he walked down the narrow pathway between the mamiji trees, -even though it was only the middle of spring, the orange and red leaves lined the tree branches- he soon came across an old wall with ivy crawling up the sides and over the top.

Tapping the wall with his foot, Shunsui slowly applied pressure to the wall with his foot, nothing happened. Stepping back from the wall, he looked it up and down. 'Why would someone put a wall here? What's on the other side?' Two questions, only one he could find the answer for it. Walking back to the wall he started to use the ivy to help him climb over the wall, sure he could walk around the wall to see it there was a way in but, what fun is that?

Once he finished climbing to the top, he sat there and looked in awe at the single Sakura tree that was in the middle of the walled field. Sure he has seen many, many Sakura trees before, but this one was different. He didn't know how or why, it looked like any other Sakura tree, but this one, this one had a feel to it. Like its special, a place where something that doesn't normal happen, happens.

Sliding off of the edge of the wall, he landed on the grass, ever so slowly, Shunsui made his way towards the Sakura tree. After a few minutes, Shunsui found himself starting to climb the said tree. He didn't know why, but whenever he came across a tree -Sakura trees in particular- he has this itch to climb the tree, maybe it was to get away from work, or to get away from the world. It didn't matter, just as long as he could satisfy the strange itch, he didn't care why.

After finding one of the main tree branches, Shunsui laid down. Looking up towards the sky, he heard Yamamoto yell again for this Ichigo person. He watched the cherry blossoms fly around in the wind, it's peaceful, no one around to bug him, to make him do something they could do themselves. His peacefulness was soon carried into the wind when he heard something heavy land in the caught yard. Picking himself up to sit on the tree branch, his first thought was to jump down and see what it was, but his second thought countered that, what if it was Yamamoto? The second thought easily winning. He soon felt something hitting the tree, looking down to the ground; Shunsui saw a black and white piece of clothing.

That was never there before, trying to look around the tree, Shunsui grabbed onto a tree branch in front of him and leaned on it. He soon realized that it wasn't such a smart idea when he heard the branch snapped, he fell along with the branch, he let out a scream of sorts as he fell. He's fallen out of trees many times before, but this would have to be the most painful yet, after all he landed face first, and if that wasn't painful then he would never know what was. He was too busy trying to ignore the pain that shot up his body as he got up to note the shuffling sound of grass and cloth.

"Who're you?" a female's voice filled his ears. His head snapped up to look at where the voice came from. A girl –probably no older than him- with bright orange hair was standing behind the Sakura tree he had just fallen out of.

"What?" he was sure he looked like an idiot when he said that. _'Stupid, stupid, stupid you couldn't come up with something better to say?'_

"I asked 'who're you?'" the girl repeated with a small twitch from her eye.

"Uh, Shunsui, Shunsui Kyouraku." He got up as he said this, "And you are?" he asked back.

"Ichigo Kurosaki." He almost missed her hesitation, but he didn't blame her, it was a surprise that she told him. After all, who tells their name to a complete stranger who fell out of a tree you were sitting under? _'Wait her name is Ichigo?! She's the one Teach was looking for? I thought it would have been a guy, then again girls are better. Seriously a guy that has a name that means strawberry? What am I thinking?!'_ In his head Shunsui was going through tons of thoughts a second, but on the outside he acted calm and dusted off his yukata.

"Why are you here?" He looked up, completely lost in thought that he didn't hear her speak and went on to talk. "Ichigo, huh? Means strawberry right?" He asked out loud.

"No, it doesn't" her voice was flat, making Shunsui blink out of his thoughts.

"Huh?" not knowing what she was talking about, that was all Shunsui manage to say.

"My name. It means 'Number One Guardian' not strawberry." Shunsui mentally slapped himself; he did it again, speaking out loud on his thoughts. "Why are you here?" this time he heard her.

"Ah, I just stumbled onto the place, I guess." Well it's true really, "and I can ask you the same thing." He waited for her to reply, but when she didn't he asked, "Aren't you going to tell me?"

"You said you can ask, but you never said anything." He watched as she went to sit back down. _'Stupid, that is asking, how often do you get out? Then again this is a different part of the Seireitei, but still.'_ "I come here to read."

"Read what?" he made his way over to the tree and sat down next to her.

"Nothing that concerns you, Kyouraku." Ichigo moved so that she was sitting on the other side of the tree from Shunsui, he frowned at that but didn't move.

"Oh come on, why not?" he asked, "Unless you don't have anything or maybe it's something you're not meant to have?" It was just an out of the blue question; he didn't think it would work, but it did. He heard Ichigo shuffling around with something; he looked at the ground when he felt something hit his hand. Picking it up Shunsui opened the scroll, the first words catching his eye. "Bakudo # 9 Horin?" _'If she can do this, I might, kind of, need to ...maybe go to training. AH! What are you thinking Shunsui?! Just because a girl might be able to do a Kido you can't doesn't mean you have to train!' _he scolded himself, seriously though, why was he thinking about doing work of all things?

"Can you do this?" he asked looking over to Ichigo.

Ichigo shook her head, "No."

"Then why do you have it then?" the words just flew out of his mouth, cutting off the orange haired child before she could finished.

"If you let me finish you would have known." Shunsui watched Ichigo as she explained what she was going to say, "I get so bored that it's not funny, so I borrow Tou-chan's notes from his room, he didn't know at first but soon caught on. I can only perform Bakudo up to# 9, Geki. I only started to read the scroll before I got here, but I think Tou-chan knows something's up so I came here as soon as I could."

_'Why is she telling me this?'_ No, seriously, why was she telling him this? The girl went and borrowed her father's notes without telling him and now she was showing him and telling him about it. Why not lie about it? Come up with some crazy story- wait, that's what it is, a crazy, mixed up story to throw him off track. _'You need to get out more, Kurosaki. Wait, I thought there was one Bakudo no# 9.'_ He looked back at the scroll, it was clear as day, Bakudo # 9 Horin, but Ichigo said Geki though.

"Wait, there are two Bakudo no# 9?!" Shunsui cried out, making Ichigo jump she looked around the tree and at him before turning back to look at the falling Cherry Blossoms.

"I said the same thing when I spotted the scroll, funny that." He watched as Ichigo picked up the already fallen Cherry Blossoms and let them fly in the wind. Shunsui watched as she did this. She looked ... fragile. Catching himself staring, Shunsui suddenly found the Bakudo scroll very interesting; it was also tempting to know what this Bakudo could do after all.

Reading the scroll while moving his hands in the motions the scroll said, he heard Ichigo speak. "What are you doing?"

Not wanting to get distracted, Shunsui quickly hushed her, not really caring that he might've sounded rude. The yard the two children sat in fell silent for a few minutes. Shunsui, finishing the scroll, jumped up to his feet, a smile on his face. Holding out his hand for Ichigo to grab, he noticed her hesitation and his smile dropped, 'why would she hesitate?' He didn't bother to come up with an answer as the girl lightly gripped his hand, by doing so, made Shunsui's smile come back as he lifted her to her feet, and then lead her a few steps away from the Sakura tree.

Handing her the scroll, Shunsui told her to stay where she was, and then walked away from her. Turning around he held out his hand and started to mutter the incarnation to the newly learnt Bakudo spell. "Disintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini! Look upon yourself with horror and tear out your own throat!" his voice then rose to a yell "Bakudo no# 9, Horin!" Shunsui watched as the orange and yellow rope like substance, made its way towards Ichigo and wrapped itself around her.

"Okay, let me go now." Ichigo said a small smile on her face but soon fell off her face as Shunsui shook his head. "What? Why not?!"

"You have to do something for me." Lightly, Shunsui tugged on the Bakudo rope as he said this, forcing the girl to take a step forward in order to keep her balance. '_I'll show them, I'll show Otou-sama and Nii-sama that I can do this. I'm not a kid anymore, I'm not a kid, and I'm not scared of what'll happen if I do this. I'm not scared.' _He looked up at her, determination covering his face. That determination soon fell to confusion_. 'Wait, she didn't squeal. Nii-sama said the girls squeal when he does something like this. So, why isn't she squealing?'_

"What?" A simple word the girl spoke, unknown to her what the word could get in reply.

Shunsui looked away from Ichigo, feeling heat rise to his cheeks, _'Damn it, don't blush! I can do this. I can do this, one sentence, that's it. All I have to say is one sentence.'_ "Show me your panties?" He asked her, a question, that's all it was, a simple question.

"What?" Her voice sounded weak, like she was breaking.

He was more confident this time around, looking back at her, his cheeks still a light pink from embarrassment, he repeated what his request was. "Show me your panties?" Sure he was more confident, but not confident enough to not make it sound like a question.

The air grew thicker, as the binding around Ichigo snapped. Shunsui watched, watched as the binding snapped, watched as the girl before him started to glow a faint blue color and her eyes gained a blue tint to them. Slowly, some of the light started to gather at her hands. Wait, he's seen that before, someone else uses the technique, but whom?

Scratch what he said about her looking fragile, the girl looked as though she's going to kill him that, was most definitely not fragile, anything but fragile, the complete opposite of fragile. She looked scary, dangerous even.

There was something else though, something that reminded him of his teacher, Yamamoto, but what was it? Was it the stance she stood in, or the aura she let off? It could have been that, but once he looked at her directly in the eye he knew why she reminded him of his teacher. The look in her eye promised pain, like that of when Yamamoto gets mad, in a way; it was like Yamamoto was standing in front of him instead of Ichigo.

Shunsui was cut off from his thoughts when a woman with long black hair, wearing a black Shihakusho and a white Haori over the top, along with a sword in her hand appeared in between him and Ichigo, making the blue light disappear from around Ichigo.

"Ya-Yachiru." Shunsui heard Ichigo speak in shock. He could only watched as the female walked pass Ichigo, her hand landing on the girl's shoulder as she told Ichigo that Yamamoto was looking for her. The two females then disappeared into thin air.

Shunsui swallowed, trying to clear his throat. He knew who was that was, it was Yachiru Unohana, the Captain of Squad 11, also known as Kenpachi to many people of Soul Society. And she was someone you didn't want to get on the bad side of any day.

The next thing that happened, Shunsui only barely managed to register the fact that Yamamoto was behind him and that he looked really pissed off about something and then the fact he was suddenly in a different place altogether and to make things worse, he started to feel dizzy, was it from the sudden appearance at a different place make him feel like throwing up? He didn't know, didn't really care, the only thing that he did care about, was that Yamamoto didn't look all that happy.

* * *

To say that Yamamoto was pissed would be an understatement, just what was the boy doing?! First he skips out on his lesson and now he's gone and done something to Ichigo. Yep, Yamamoto was beyond pissed.

He thought that it would be a good for Ichigo to get to know someone other than Sasakibe, Unohana, himself, and the others. He thought that if anyone would be best to get her to open up, it would be his student, Shunsui Kyoraku. Oh, if he only knew how wrong he was, he would have done everything and anything to keep the two away from each other. Okay, maybe he was overreacting a little, but can you blame him? After all, what kind of father wouldn't be worried or overprotective of their little girl?

Yamamoto looked down at the boy, who in turn looked back up at him, meeting each other's line of sight. Shunsui swallowed, trying to keep himself calm. Yamamoto didn't look really happy, and an unhappy Yamamoto isn't the best thing to come across, especially if you're the one to make him like this in the first place.

Shunsui suddenly forgot all about being sick, and concentrated on the Head Captain standing in front of him_. 'Why, why hasn't he said anything yet?' _That was a good question. Normally Yamamoto would be going off his head about what he did wrong, so why hadn't he yet?

"Shunsui." Yamamoto broke the silence between them.

"Sensei." Shunsui managed to say back, though he was a little nervous.

Yamamoto chose to wait, instead of speaking straight up. Slightly enjoying watching his student squirm under his gaze.

Shunsui didn't have time to react as Yamamoto pounded the ground in front of him with his foot, sending the slightly orange sand into the air, only just managing to dodge the punch that came after. Did he dodge it? Or had Yamamoto missed on purpose? He really didn't care, just as long as his teacher didn't land a hit on him, Shunsui was happy.

He may have then tripped after, but he was thankful as Yamamoto's arm stretched out to deliver another punch. Shunsui shuffled backwards, always keeping his eyes where the Yamamoto stood, as the sand settled back down to the ground.

"Sensei?" Shunsui asked slowly as he inched backwards carefully.

Yamamoto ignored him, instead he watched the child, catching any movement he made.

"Sensei, what's wrong?" again Shunsui asked, still carefully inching backwards.

"_'What's wrong'_?" Yamamoto repeated what the boy in front of him said, "What's wrong is what happened in the old courtyard, Shunsui." Yamamoto then answered Shunsui's question as he glared down at him.

"What do you mean? Nothing happened..." Shunsui asked, and tried to defend himself as he started to push himself up off of the ground, but stopped as he trailed off, realization coated his face. The girl is fragile, she's hesitant, afraid ... broken. And then there was the way she reacted, he didn't think anyone would react that way, unless need be. So why did Kurosaki do so at such a thing? Something must have spooked her, but what?

"Nothing what?" Yamamoto asked interested in what the boy would say. Had Shunsui had an idea himself he would have said it but even so, he knew he would have been distracted by the arrival of Unohana with Ichigo hiding behind the back of her legs.

Shunsui let his bangs cover his eyes and muttered "Nothing happens without a reason." He then looked up to his mentor and then glanced over to the still hiding Ichigo. "I don't know why but, I can just tell that she's broken, that something happened to her. That doesn't matter, what matter is that she's here, broken. And what do you do when something breaks? You pick up the pieces and fix it, and that is what I will do for Ichigo." A small flicker of determination flashed through Shunsui's gray eyes. "So what if I tried to look at her panties? At least it got a reaction. I want to help her, help her get out of her shell, help her move on from whatever happened, I want to help her because I'm sure she's a wonderful person." Shunsui then looked back up to his mentor's eyes as his own narrowed in determination.

"Really now? And how do you plan on doing that, Shunsui?" Yamamoto asked trying to ignore the fact that Shunsui tried to violet his little girl and so instead he watched Shunsui's eye's still full of determination. _'If only he was this determined to do work.'_

In an instant the determination was replace by confusion with one blink from Shunsui, "Ahhh." Okay so maybe Shunsui hadn't thought of that just yet, what did you expect? He's just a child, how would he have been able to know that he needed to work out how he was going to help the orange haired girl right off the top of his head?

"Maybe you should think things through before you state things Shunsui." Yamamoto said looking towards Shunsui. He then turned his look over to Yachiru, wanting to know her thoughts on what should happen now and the whole thing in general.

Noticing that Yamamoto was looking over to them, Yachiru simply shrugged, the only thing that mattered to her right now was calming down Ichigo from what happened.

"Well, now that we're done talking, how about we get to your real punishment?" Yamamoto asked, his fists catching fire and raised them in an intimidating gesture.

Shunsui backed up even more this was one place he really didn't want to be right now. He then saw slight movement from the corner of his eye.

"Wait Tou-chan!" Ichigo yelled out. Shunsui's head snapped around to her, _'What did she just call sensei?'_ Shunsui looked back to his mentor, who was looking over to Ichigo. The words that Ichigo said registered in Shunsui's mind and his head snapped back over to Ichigo. "Tou-chan... seriously?!" Shunsui yelled out over the training grounds.

Ichigo ignored the boys' outburst and looked Yamamoto in the eye.

"Ichigo, he has done something he should not have and thus must be punished, that is the justice of the world." Yamamoto said, looking at Ichigo but making no move to lower his fists.

Ichigo took a step forward, "How is beating someone who tried to help someone else fair?" Ichigo shook her head, "I don't see it. So what if that's that, that ... ah justy thingy..." Ichigo trailed off, not being able to remember what she was going to say, "I don't care if it's some random law or what other sh-ah-stuff you come up with. It makes no sense to punish someone who just tried to help."

Yamamoto watched her for a moment, seeing if she would back down, she didn't. "If you insist so greatly, Ichigo." Yamamoto said, lowering his fists.

Ichigo beamed up at him, while Shunsui let out a sigh of relief at the sight of his sensei calming down.

"But...don't think that we didn't catch that slip up! What did we tell you about cursing?!" Yamamoto asked, slapping Ichigo upside the head.

"Ow!" Ichigo instantly put hands on the back of her head, "Well it's not my fault I wasn't born a Noble!" Ichigo resorted back glaring at Yamamoto.

Shunsui blinked, _'If she wasn't born a Noble, then how is Sensei her father?'_ Shunsui asked himself, but ended up saying it out loud.

Ichigo looked over to him and gave a blank look, her arms falling back to her sides, "I'm adopted." She said it as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. Then again, maybe it was part Shunsui's fault for not noticing the differences in appearances.

"Ichigo, you do not need to be a Noble to not curse, you need to work on that." Yachiru said, being stern with Ichigo as she walked over to the group.

"I'm just saying is that it'll take more than a few days to get me out of habits like the one that I have." Ichigo stated, "And at least I didn't finish what I was going to say." Ichigo then added feeling a little proud of herself for that.

Ichigo turned towards Yachiru, "Besides, what about you Nee-chan? You and Squad 11 curse up a storm whenever you just stump your toe, a lot worse when they actually get hurt." Ichigo said, being sarcastic towards Yachiru.

"Well that's because it's Squad 11 Ichigo, you know what it's like with them." Yachiru said a tint of softness in her voice.

"A bunch of brutes that think that just because they have a sword that makes they are all big and bad, you're the only one that's different because we all know that you're big and bad and that you act like that, you're not a brute Nee-chan." Ichigo said, giving a small smile to Yachiru.

"That seems to fit them." Yamamoto said in agreement, deep in thought as he said this.

Shunsui stood up, "Agreed, and they are such perverts. They will jump at any female they can get their hands on." Shunsui nodded in agreement with his Sensei.

Yamamoto hit Shunsui over the back of the head, "And look who's talking."

"Well what about you Sensei?" Shunsui asked, rubbing the back of his head. "You can't say that you didn't do the same unless your interests lie elsewhere."

"One, I'm nothing like you, two, don't make up such nonsense, and three, I didn't go after every female I saw." Yamamoto listed of glaring at the child.

"Well, you just keep saying that but I only go after the hot ones or the ones that will end up really hot and Ichigo will end up a man killer! We'll have to beat men off of her with our Zanpakuto!" Shunsui exclaimed, waving her arms around for emphasizing the vast importance of it.

Shunsui would have continued if it wasn't for the fact that Yamamoto hit him on the head again, this time harder.

Again Shunsui put his hands on his head to ease away the pain, "What was that for? It's very likely and we will need to protect Ichigo, no one may get what is mine." Shunsui said in a low voice, his gray eyes moving all around them.

"Ichigo isn't yours." Yachiru glared at the child as she moved Ichigo so that she was standing behind her.

"Yes she is, she's my new friend and I protect my friends! You'll see! I'll be more powerful than the both of you combined and I will protect Ichigo, even if it costs me my life I will protect my Strawberry-chan!" Shunsui exclaimed as he looked Yachiru in the eye with his own narrowed in determination.

"Your what?" The other three asked at the same time, Yamamoto and Yachiru confused, Ichigo in irritation. She has already told him that her name had nothing to do with the red fruit.

"Ah... Ichigo." Shunsui corrected himself.

"Kyouraku..." Ichigo said, getting out from behind Yachiru and walking towards the brown haired boy slowly at a leisurely pace, "What did I tell you about my name? Do you remember?" Ichigo asked, sickly calm with a weird smile on her face.

"Ah, it has nothing to do with strawberries?" Shunsui asked more then said, a little unsure.

"Correct, so why did you call me that of all things, moron?!" Ichigo asked, hitting the boy with the Kidou Scroll as she asked him, not really expecting an answer.

"Because it's a pet name I have for you, like how I have a pet name for my other friend, I'll introduce the two of you later." Shunsui said, with his head down as Ichigo continued to hit him with the Kido scroll.

"Pet name_. Pet name?!_ We've didn't even know the other existed until not that long ago and you're giving me a _pet name_?" Ichigo looked at him with a raised eyebrow as Shunsui stood back up straight and gave a wary nod. "The Hell you on?" Ichigo asked stepping back, just as warily as Shunsui was.

"Ichigo..." Yamamoto said in warning as he watched the two children interact with each other. _'Maybe letting the two talk isn't such a bad idea after all. Ichigo's never interacted with some of her own free will nor for this long, except for Tenjiro, myself, and everyone else.'_

"Well, we're friends now aren't we? And friends have pet names for each other, so I gave you one." Shunsui said, like it was common sense.

Shunsui watch as Ichigo tilted her head to the side, "Friends?" it was the way she said it that worried him. It was as though she had never heard the term. That was confusing, everyone had heard of the term friend before. He may not have come from any of the 320 districts in Rukongai, but he was sure there are people who know the word even if they didn't use it often. But the girl in front of him said it as though it was the first time saying.

"Yeah, best friends I promise Ichigo. That and I'm going to help you and stand by you always. It's what anyone would do for a cute girl." Shunsui said, smiling at Ichigo

"Okay, well I think we got off on the wrong foot." Shunsui said and held out his hand to shake, "The name's Shunsui Kyouraku, nice to meet you." He said smiling at the shorter girl.

Ichigo shook the taller boys hand, "Ichigo Kurosaki" Ichigo could practically hear her father's mumbled and felt his gaze on the back of her head for not remembering to say her full name "...Yamamoto, same to you."

* * *

_Unaware to anyone of that time, a blade of fate fell._

_Connecting the night sky and the now moonlit lake._

_Fate had bounded them, but fate wasn't done yet._

* * *

Chapter end.

A/N: Well that is a lot... Anyway please don't expect all chapters to be this long some may, but they take a while to write.

Please leave a review.


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